Chapter Text
Dean and Cas are friends. It didn't start off that way, of course.
When they met as freshmen at UCLA, Dean Winchester played football for the school and liked his music and his cars loud. With classic all-American good looks and enough charm in his smile alone to make anyone swoon, it was easy to see why people saw him as the typical “ladies’ man.” Castiel Novak, however, was quiet and reserved, content with being alone with nothing but a good book to keep him occupied. His features were sharp, and the contrast of his dark hair to his light eyes paired with the usual look of intensity on his face often to mark him as the “dark and mysterious” archetype. Though, as everyone knows, there is always more to someone than meets the eye.
The first time Dean saw Castiel was during the mandatory freshman function. Dean was surrounded by a boisterous group of talkers doing what they do best, going on about nothing in particular. Finding himself unattached to the conversation, Dean let his eyes wander over the crowd of students before landing on a boy with glasses and dark hair, sitting at a table by himself. As if he could sense a stranger’s gaze, Castiel peeled his eyes from the pages of Anna Karenina and looked up to see Dean watching him. Dean caught his eye with a small smile and an acknowledging nod, to which Castiel simply furrowed his brow before returning his attention to his book. They both immediately disregarded the other nameless boy and carried on with their lives.
Castiel did exceedingly well in all of his classes, and being the responsible student he was, never missed a lesson. He did all of his work as he was expected and still had time to work at the café/bookstore, For Whom the Coffee Brews. The two friends he made rather easily shared most of his classes and coincidentally worked with him at ‘Brews, but otherwise Castiel kept to himself.
Dean, on the other hand, spent most of his days skipping class and hanging out with his friends in the pool hall, or sleeping through a majority of the classes he actually did attend. In his spare him, he worked as a mechanic at a family friend’s auto shop. On the weekends (and admittedly, some weeknights), Dean could be found wherever there was booze flowing and music blasting. Dean and Castiel were practically on different hemispheres.
That was, until, Dean’s initial roommate filed for a room switch because of Dean’s constant misbehavior. At the time, Castiel had been situated in a room by himself- his first roommate having dropped out relatively early on in the year, and the school hadn’t assigned him a new one. After essentially being kicked out of his room, Dean was reassigned to live with Castiel, and as to be expected given their obvious differences, the first few months were awkward.
Over time, they gradually became fonder of each other. Dean exposed Cas to the world of leisurely activities (for which he happily made room in his life) and college sports (not a fan, turns out), and Cas got Dean to limit his partying to twice a week (to which he reluctantly agreed) and attend most of his morning classes (definitely not a fan). The fondness developed into a friendship, which in turn led to best friendship. When the boys returned for their sophomore year, they requested to be roommates again. They expected nothing out of the ordinary, but the tangles of destiny had other plans.
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Cas was droning on about something related to reference angles, or referee dangles, or what the fuck ever Dean wasn't paying attention to, and he couldn't take another second. "Cas," Dean groaned, trying to accurately portray his agony.
Castiel gave him an exasperated look. The men were sitting at the study table in their common room, and Cas was trying to help Dean with his lessons. They'd barely been studying for an hour, not even long enough for Dean to begin to grasp the concept of the lesson. It wasn't Dean's fault math was boring and should be used for torturing war criminals. Cas was a good tutor, but not that good of a tutor. "You're never going to get this if you don't pay attention," Cas warned with a stern look from over the top of his glasses.
"Can't we just take a break or something? We've been at this for six hours," Dean griped as he stretched with closed eyes. Alright, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but it feels like six hours.
"Dean, it's only been an hour; you're just whining." Dean knew Cas didn't want to take a break, but he put down his pencil and sat back in his chair anyways.
Dean tried his best to give him his little brother's signature puppy eyes. "Please, Cassie, can we take a break?" He pouted his bottom lip out and batted his eyelashes animatedly.
Cas rolled his eyes and shook his head with a smile. He put up his hands in mock-defeat. "Whatever." He slotted his eyes and pointed a warning finger at Dean. "Just don't ever call me Cassie again."
Dean grinned. "Deal."
"This is just a break, so don't throw a fit when we come back to this in fifteen minutes," Cas mentioned to Dean as Dean stood up from the table.
Dean let out a laugh as he headed to the refrigerator, ignoring Cas's warning. "You want a soda?" He called over his shoulder. Cas accepted the offer and followed him, leaning against the kitchen island. Dean tossed him a can and opened his own, sitting on top of the counter across from his friend. "So, you going to Jo's party tonight?"
Cas scoffed inwardly into the can. “Oh yes, as per my long-standing 'party boy' reputation, I’m going to a party,” he said sarcastically. “That's a terrific idea."
Dean ignored his friend's sarcasm. "There's nothing wrong with taking a night off once in a while, man. You work way too hard." Dean wasn't lying. Cas was the hardest-working guy he knew- aside from Sam- and he never took a break. Always had to keep pushing, keep studying, keep working, keep reading. Seriously, Dean was convinced Cas would snap from over-exertion one of these days.
"I know, but parties aren't my thing," Cas replied with an excuse that Dean expected.
"What is there not to enjoy?" Cas was about to respond to the rhetoric question, but Dean continued his argument. "Come on, dude. Music, games, loose women... Granted, the beer is pretty shitty, but it gets the job done."
Cas stared into his can and hesitated. "I wasn't invited." Dean groaned and rolled his eyes.
Getting off the counter, he walked over and placed a hand on Cas's shoulder. "Nobody's invited, Cas. It's college. You just… go." When Cas opened his mouth to reply, Dean cut him off. "Please come. I promise you'll have fun. Besides, there are a ton of chicks that I know will want a piece of that. And what kinda guy would I be to deny them of that privilege?" Dean winked at him. "Trust me."
Cas sighed with the last of his resolve giving in. "Fine. I'll go." Dean smiled victoriously. He could always wear Cas down from his infinite supply of excuses. He had maybe two seconds to imagine what their night would be like before Cas was changing the subject. "But since I'm going, you have to get back to studying." Dean scoffed incredulously. Bastard.
&&
"Triple grande skinny caramel latte for Jenny?" Charlie called out from behind the counter. A cute girl with short blonde hair claimed the cup and smiled at Charlie. Charlie pretended to blush and looked down shyly, a move Castiel was more than familiar with by now. As the girl walked away, Charlie looked back up and shamelessly checked out the her butt.
Chuck snorted and shook his head. "Damn, Charlie, how long has it been?" Charlie sighed wistfully in lieu of responding.
"You need to get laid," he observed.
"I'm not arguing with that," she agreed as she moved to get back to work. Castiel laughed and started cleaning the counters while they didn't have any customers.
Chuck and Charlie were his two best friends- aside from Dean, of course. Chuck Shurley was a shorter, skinny guy who generally looked disheveled and lost. Being a writer, he was usually jotting down ideas or lines on napkins and shoving them into his pockets for later. Cas always thought of him as a fairly decent writer, but his stories usually consumed him a little too much to be considered healthy. On the other hand, Charlie Bradbury was more than just the cute, nerdy lesbian she appeared to be. She's fun and sassy, quick-witted, and a complete genius, all of which made her so appealing to Cas. Her bright red hair and flamboyant outfits paired her personality perfectly; there was no darkness- literal or metaphorical- that Charlie couldn't light up. Castiel's friends were definitely unique, but he loved them for it.
"Why don't you come to Jo Harvelle's party tonight?" Castiel offered to the conversation.
Chuck gave Castiel a skeptical look. "A party? Since when do you go to parties?"
"Dean begged me to go," he explained. Chuck shrugged knowingly. Cas turned back to Charlie before adding, "He also said there will be lots of loose and inebriated women."
"Well, then you can count me in. I might even try to hit up the hostess. That Jo sure is one fine piece." Charlie grinned and waggled her eyebrows. “Know what I’m sayin’?”
"A baby would know what you’re saying," Chuck retorted.
Charlie punched him in the arm, and Chuck mumbled something about Charlie being easy under his breath. "Am not! I just have an appreciation for butches in femmes' bodies, is all. Excuse me for wanting to actually socialize instead of sitting on my computer all night writing about some dumb brothers who fight monsters and have sex with each other."
Chuck's face was as red as humanly possible, much to Castiel's amusement. A few customers had actually turned around and watched, but Cas held up a hand to them apologetically. "They do not have sex with each other! Why does everyone think that? They're brothers," he explained for the millionth time even though he knew by now that Charlie was just giving him a hard time.
"Exactly, Chuck! Maybe you should stop writing it that way, and people would stop thinking they're fucking."
"But they-" Chuck looked like the vein in his forehead was about to pop, and Castiel decided it was time to break it up.
"Okay, come on. Chuck, your stories are fine, but there is a level of... sexual tension in the subtext." Cas held his hand up to Chuck when he tried to interject. Charlie stuck out her tongue at him. "And Charlie-" Cas tilted his head and gave her a knowing look.
"I can't just turn this off, Cas," she explained, putting her hands on her hips. "What can I say? I'm irresistable."
Cas huffed a laugh and shook his head, moving past the subject. "Anyways, are you two coming with me tonight? I could really use some friends that will stick with me."
"Yeah, totally," Charlie accepted.
They both looked at Chuck, who seemed as reluctant as before. "I guess I could go, but if it starts to get weird, I'm reserving the right to leave early."
"Naturally," he yielded. "Meet me at my dorm tonight around ten, and we can all walk over together." Castiel didn't know how exactly how Dean was at parties, so he didn't want to follow him around like a lost puppy. Knowing his other friends would be there gave Cas more confidence in his having a good time tonight.
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They'd only been at the party for ten minutes, and Chuck was already trying to leave. Sure, the music was probably louder than necessary, and there were couples making out around every corner and on most surfaces, and maybe the floor was sticky with spilled beer, but it wasn't that bad. Cas gave a pleading look to Dean, who was unfazed by the "lack of class," as Chuck put it.
"Dean, maybe Chuck and I should just go, and you can have fun with your friends..." Cas started hesitantly, his voice barely louder than the music.
Dean stopped guiding them through the crowd and put a hand on Cas's shoulder as he leaned in to his ear. "No, dude. I invited you. We will have a good time, I promise." He pulled back to see the feeble smile on Cas's lips before he leaned back in. "I'm going to get you to relax if it's the last thing I do." Cas nodded concedingly and met Dean's grin with his own. Dean clapped him on the shoulder and began walking again. "Let's start off with drinks!"
"Yeah, let's get wasted!" Charlie shouted enthusiastically.
"Is that such a good idea? Last time you got drunk, you hooked up with a guy," Chuck reminded her. Charlie rolled her eyes and accepted a cup of beer from Dean.
"We live and we learn, my good man." Charlie tipped her cup to Chuck. "Let loose for once, spaz." Chuck made a face at her and snatched a cup from Dean. He walked off into the crowd and disappeared. Probably going off to find a mouse hole to crawl into and feel more at home.
"You want one?" Dean asked Cas who was still empty-handed. Cas smiled and accepted. When he took the first sip, he cringed a little. "What's wrong?"
"You really weren't lying when you said the beer was shitty," Cas answered with a pained expression. Dean laughed loudly and clapped him on the back.
"How about we get this party started?!" Charlie yelled, raising her cup. The overhearing crowd cheered along with her, and she started dancing in place. Something must've clicked in Cas because he immediately chugged his beer and hooted triumphantly. Surprised by his enthusiasm to join the party, Dean's mouth fell open, and he laughed to himself. Fuck it. Dean downed his beer right after him and joined in the whooping.
"Shots!" Someone yelled from the crowd that had gathered around the kitchen. Charlie shouted her approval, and Dean found the liquor and some plastic shot cups. He poured the three of them four shots each before handing the bottle to another group of people.
"Are you ready for this?" Dean asked in Cas's ear, only loud enough for him to hear. Castiel grinned and downed his first shot. "I'll take that as a yes." Dean, instigating a battle, took one shot in both hands and gulped them one after the other. He winced and hissed at the sensation, but let out a holler after the taste passed.
Castiel smiled darkly at him. "You really have no idea who you're messing with." He swiftly picked up and downed the rest of his shots, and without missing a beat, reached over to Charlie's neglected shot and drank it down. He slammed the cup down and gave Dean a smug, triumphant look. The crowd hurrahed and a few people gave approving slaps to his back.
"I guess I don't," Dean admitted quietly. He grinned and downed one shot, sliding the other over to Charlie. She gladly accepted and took Cas by the hand.
"Come on, let's dance!" She tugged him to the connected room where everyone was packed in. Cas threw him a helpless smile and shrug over his shoulder. Dean gave his friend a thumbs-up and poured himself a beer.
He leaned back against the wall and watched the crowd enjoy themselves. He was always fine with sitting by himself and waiting for others to approach him- as they always did. Dean scoped the room out for some girls with the usual "potential." There were a few decent looking girls, but none that really stuck out to him. Not like that's ever stopped me before. They usually start being handsy and ready to take him home around the second hour of a party, and Dean rarely found himself saying no.
Dean looked back to his friend who was trying to survive a lady-sandwich consisting of Charlie and some girl with black hair- Tessa or something. Dean smirked and felt happy that he could bring Cas out of his element and show him some fun. And he was right: the ladies' eyes were practically glued to him.
"Who's that hot piece of ass you came with, Deano?" A woman's voice called out from behind him. He looked over and smiled at the two girls walking over, both a little tipsy.
"Meg! I didn't know you were into redheads," he teased as he pulled Jo into a side-hug. Meg and Jo had this weird, new friendship that Dean figured he wasn't ever going to understand. They were complete opposites. Meg was dark-haired, devious, sassy, and the school's token "good-time gal." Jo was blonde, good-hearted and down to earth. She was feisty, but had a good head on her shoulders. He'd known both of them since their freshman year, but the girls hadn't gotten to know each other until they were assigned to be roommates this year.
"Oh, Deano, you know I don't judge," Meg returned with a wink. "But I was talking about Mr. Long-Lean-and-Sexy over there."
"That is Castiel Novak. I'm pretty sure you've heard me talking about him. We're roommates, remember?"
"Oh yeah. I've never seen him before, but I like what I see." She was very blatantly scanning Cas up and down like she might literally eat him up.
Dean cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Anyways, Jo, I need to ask you something for a friend."
Jo turned her attention from the crowd to him absently. "Yeah, what is it?"
"Are you into chicks?"
Jo shrugged nonchalantly, barely paying attention to him. "Yeah. Why?" Dean smiled to himself and shrugged back the images that came to mind.
He nodded over to Charlie and Cas. "Charlie Bradbury is looking for some love, and I hear she thinks you're something special." This information obviously piqued her interest; Jo blushed and shifted her gaze first to the ground and then over to the redhead across the room.
"Really?" Dean grinned and nodded. He caught Castiel's glance and waved. Cas waved back, and Dean motioned for him and Charlie to come join them. Cas nodded and said something to Charlie before they walked over together. Jo was blushing even harder and messing with her hair to straighten it out. Dean had never really seen Jo lose her cool before; it was kinda cute.
"Hey. What's up?" Cas and Charlie were out of breath and shiny with perspiration. The alcohol had obviously caught up with them, and their cheeks were flushed.
"I wanna introduce you guys. Cas and Charlie, this is Meg and Jo," he said as he pointed to each of them respectively. Cas smiled at them and swayed on his heels. Charlie put on her best I'm-here-to-fuck-bitches grin and extended her hand to Jo.
"Nice to finally meet you officially," she purred. Jo nodded in agreement. Charlie asked if she wanted a drink, and they immediately walked off together.
"That was… impressively quick," Dean observed.
Cas laughed and hiccupped. Meg saw her opportunity to get her claws into him and put her hand on his arm. "So what about you, Clarence? You wanna get outta here?" she offered seductively.
"You don't even know me," Cas returned with another hiccup. Cas made a funny face that he apparently only made when he was drunk because it was foreign to Dean. "Plus, that's not even my name."
Meg let her hands run up Castiel's chest. "Don't you watch movies?" Cas shrugged, not understanding.
"She's calling you an angel, bud," Dean offered, leaning in closer to Cas. Cas nodded slowly, sending Dean a knowing wink and thumbs-up. Dean chuckled at his dork of a roommate. "Hey, be careful with him. He's a virgin, after all," Dean warned Meg.
Cas looked at him with confusion, and Meg raised her eyebrows. "What? No, I'm not," he argued like it should've been obvious even though the last time Dean checked, Cas's V-Card was still in tact. Granted, that was back when they first moved into the same room, but Dean was positive there was no way Cas could have time for all of the work he did and still have time to pull some tail.
"Cas, what-" Dean was cut off by Castiel taking Meg and pinning her against the wall and kissing her passionately. He had one hand on her hip, pulling her closer, and one wrapped in her hair. She moaned in surprise and kissed him back, running her hands up his back. Dean's jaw was practically on the floor, and all he could do was stare. Somewhere in the back of his head, he passively observed the fact that Cas looked like a pretty good kisser.
When Cas finally pulled away and turned back to him, his smiling lips were more pink and swollen, and his messy hair was even more disheveled. Meg stayed leaned against the wall and grinned. With a heaving chest, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Just because you never asked, doesn't mean it never happened," Cas put simply. Dean tried to reply, but all he could do was open and close his mouth around words he couldn't find.
“I feel so… clean.” Meg teased as he ran her hands all over Cas. "God, Deano, I don't know how you can keep your hands off him.”
"I'm not-" Dean started.
"Uh-huh, yeah, that's nice,” she replied with disinterest. “We are going back to your room. You have fun," she called over her shoulder and she pulled Cas with her out of sight. Well, okay then. I'll just sit here, I guess.
An hour later, Dean stumbled back to his dorm alone. Apparently all of the decent girls were either taken, gay, or too drunk to stay awake. When he managed to get the door open and shuffled inside, the lights were off and the only source of light was the moon outside of the window. He heard Cas's bed creaking and two sets of moans. Before he knew what he was doing, Dean shut the door quietly, and they apparently hadn't heard him enter the room.
The moans became dirtier and wetter, and Dean was frozen in place. Making out the dark shapes, he could tell Cas was on top, his skin of his back reflecting the moonlight- and yep. That's his ass. Oh God. Neither Cas, nor Meg could see him. "Nnn… god," Cas groaned. Dean's jeans felt tighter, and he palmed the growing bulge, willing it to go away. He chewed on his lip pensively. I shouldn't be here. He saw Cas dip his head down and hoist one of Meg's legs up over his shoulder before shifting the angle of his hips- a movement Dean definitely didn't miss.
"Yeah, harder, baby. Mmm, like that," Meg purred. Cas moaned, and the creaks from the bed came faster and louder than before. Meg gasped and moved her hands from Cas's back to hold onto the headboard. "Oh yeah! Fuck, it's so good." I really shouldn't be here.
Dean couldn't take it anymore. He was painfully hard, and if he didn't do something, he might come in his pants. Instead of interrupting, he sneaked into the bathroom connected to their dorm room. Without turning the light on, he freed his erection from the confines of his pants and began to stroke himself while he leaned against the door. The walls weren't very thick, and he could still hear the noises from their room.
Cas groaned something unintelligible loudly and there was a thump. It sounded like someone banging something on the headboard. Meg screamed and laughed simultaneously. Dean held a whimper to himself and began to stroke himself faster. For some reason, he was glad Meg's noises weren't the only things he could hear. Cas's deep, throaty sounds were... inexplicably hot. Their voices became faster and louder, the thumping noise repeating with the loud creaks of the bed springs. As soon as Cas let out a guttural groan, Dean tweaked his wrist and came with a small whimper.
"Holy shit, Clarence. You really weren't kidding, were you?" Dean overheard Meg comment breathily. Cas didn't say anything, but he heard the bed spring some more. Dean cleaned himself up as much as he could for being in the dark and waited to hear something else before he walked out.
After a few more minutes, he heard the pair's voices on the other side of the bathroom door where it met the doorway to their room. "It was nice meeting you, Meg. I, uh... hope we can do this again sometime," Cas slurred hoarsely.
Dean heard Meg chuckle. "You can bet that sweet ass of yours we will." A few moments later, he heard the bed creak again, along with the door opening and shutting. Dean wanted to wait until Cas was sleeping before he emerged. Remembering how drunk Cas was, Dean figured it wouldn't take him very long.
After waiting a good five minutes, he crept out of the bathroom and over to his bed. Sure enough, Cas was laying on his stomach, snoring lightly. Dean pretended not to notice that Cas hadn't been bothered to even put his boxers back on. And Dean definitely didn't take a few seconds longer than necessary to admire the slight muscles in his back. He took his jeans off and crawled into bed, purposefully laying on his right side and facing the wall. He could worry about whatever it is that just happened in the morning; for now, all he had to do was go to sleep.